Once upon a time … back in August of 2004, Hilton Quest School third-grader Nicholas Marsaw found a caterpillar in his back yard in North Greece. he decided to use this for a science project and fed the little crawler on dill weeds and kept it in a plastic container. About two weeks later it became a chrysalis, the third stage of becoming a butterfly where it is encased in a cocoon, which was attached to a twig. He and his mother, Beth, watched the cocoon for some six to eight weeks and nothing happened; they thought it was dead. Nicholas brought the cocoon to his teacher, Greg Booth, Technology/REACH instructor, in October. He temporarily placed it in a plastic zip lock bag. In mid-January Booth added the cocoon to a display on insects in "The Quest Insect Collection" case, a wall-recessed lighted area with sliding glass doors, in a hallway at the school. On February 17, much to the amazement of all, a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly with a wingspan of about 3 1/2 inches emerged from the cocoon and started fluttering around the lighted case. (Swallowtails are known to be strong fliers.) Soon, a dish of sugar water was added and young students passing by were excited to stop and watch this "breath of life" ring a little warmth to a cold winter. Nicholas, a student of the Bible, named his flying insect "Amos," after the Hebrew prophet. Nicholas' mother, Beth, was on hand to observe Amos' antics and stated, "What an exciting early spring event in the middle of February! I'm very proud of Nick's science project and how it's continuing." Before the weekend, flowering plants were added to provide nourishment for Amos, with the hope that he will live for some time and continue to amaze the students, staff and teacher with his memorable life story. |
